Dear Members:
With great power comes great responsibility.
That familiar phrase comes to mind when I think about the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) over the past few years. AI has become one of the most talked-about innovations affecting how we work, communicate, and do business. Whether you're listening to a podcast, attending an industry conference, or reading the latest headlines, it's hard to avoid conversations about AI and its potential impact.
Not surprisingly, our members frequently ask us about AI. One question we hear is: What role should AI play in my credit union's operations? As you evaluate how AI may fit within your organization, I thought it would help to share a glimpse into our own journey.
Over the past 18 months, Corporate One has continued to expand both our use of AI and our understanding of its capabilities. When I last wrote about our approach to AI, we were still in the early stages of experimentation, identifying practical use cases and establishing guidelines to help staff use these tools responsibly while mitigating potential risks. While those principles remain firmly in place, our approach has matured.
For a closer look at how Corporate One is currently using AI and where we see opportunities ahead, I invite you to read the following conversation with Prashanta Pradhan, EVP, Chief Information Officer.
Q: Prashanta, AI has been in almost every business discussion for quite a while now. How has Corporate One been using AI in the past 18 months?
Over the past year and a half, we have focused on using AI to improve employee productivity, strengthen access to institutional knowledge, and increase technology delivery efficiency. We rolled out Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Chat, and Teams Premium AI capabilities, and expanded AI-powered meeting summaries, document creation, research, and collaboration tools across the organization.
We've also developed several internal AI-powered chatbots that provide employees with quick access to specialized knowledge in areas such as immediate payments, securitization, human resources, and operational support. At the same time, our software engineering team has incorporated GitHub Copilot and other AI-assisted development practices to accelerate coding, testing, documentation, and code reviews. Beyond these use cases, our risk management team is leveraging AI-powered tools to enhance vendor management.
Overall, we've focused on real business applications that improve productivity and let our teams spend more time on higher-value work.
Q: How has Corporate One's use of AI evolved since we began adopting it?
Our AI journey has evolved significantly over the past year. At the beginning, we focused on experimenting and identifying practical ways individuals could use AI to boost productivity. As we gained experience, we realized that scaling AI successfully requires more than simply deploying new tools.
Today, we're taking a more strategic, enterprise-wide approach. We've invested considerable time and resources in governance, data readiness, security, sensitivity labeling, AI oversight, and enterprise architecture reviews before broader deployment, ensuring we build a strong foundation for responsible AI adoption. Rather than viewing AI as a collection of standalone tools, we now see it as a business capability that can drive long-term value across the organization.
As a result, we've shifted our focus to measuring outcomes, establishing governance, enabling responsible innovation, and creating repeatable frameworks for AI adoption across the organization. We are also developing an enterprise AI strategy, governance model, and metrics-based approach to measure efficiency gains and business value.
Q: How do you foresee Corporate One and our member credit unions using AI in 2027?
I expect Corporate One to move beyond productivity gains and begin embedding AI into business processes, software delivery, decision support, knowledge management, and operational automation. AI will increasingly help create requirements, generate code, test applications, analyze data, monitor operations, and deliver insights, all under human oversight. We will focus on combining AI with governed, trusted data and strong governance practices to deliver measurable business outcomes, not simply deploy more AI tools.
For our members, I expect AI adoption to accelerate in member service, contact centers, fraud detection, employee assistance, knowledge management, lending support, marketing personalization, and operational efficiency. Many credit unions will begin deploying AI agents and copilots that augment employees, automate routine work, and provide faster member support.
Ultimately, access to AI will not set organizations apart. Success will depend on how responsibly they govern the technology, how effectively they leverage trusted data, and how consistently they deliver measurable results while preserving security, compliance, and member trust.
Q: What regulatory or legal considerations should credit unions keep an eye on as they adopt AI?
From a compliance perspective, credit unions should closely monitor evolving regulatory expectations. The NCUA's Artificial Intelligence Resource Center highlights key considerations, including fair lending compliance, data privacy, transparency, cybersecurity, and third-party vendor oversight. As AI adoption expands, credit unions can stay ahead of regulatory scrutiny by documenting AI-related decision-making processes, conducting thorough vendor due diligence, and maintaining strong governance practices to ensure accountability and member trust.
As our experience shows, AI continues to reshape how organizations work, serve, and innovate. While the opportunities are significant, lasting success depends on balancing innovation with sound governance and responsible adoption. Corporate One is committed to both as we continue to explore AI's potential, share our insights, and support members as the landscape evolves.